The present invention relates to a method and system for auditing trucking invoices, and, more particularly, a method and system for auditing trucking invoices based on information and data collected by the central computing systems employed by trucking companies to manage their freight transportation operations.
Trucking companies commonly employ a central computing system for managing freight transportation operations, including the receipt of orders, the dispatching of trucks based on those orders, tracking of loads in transit, and billing. Therefore, such a central computing system collects and stores a wealth of information and data that could be used to validate that an invoice submitted to a lender is genuine. For example, the Innovative Computing Corporation of Oklahoma City, Okla. (a wholly owned subsidiary of the assignee of the present application) markets such a software product for managing freight transportation operations under the mark Innovative Enterprise Software®. The method and system of the present invention is specifically adapted for use with this software product.
In the trucking and freight transportation industry, to secure immediate access to capital and manage cash flow, a trucking company often turns to asset-based lending or factoring programs. In a typical factoring transaction, once a freight load had been delivered and accepted, a trucking company submits the invoice and/or other supporting documents to a lender. The lender then advances an agreed percentage of the invoice, with the invoice essentially serving as collateral for the transaction. Unfortunately, cash-strapped trucking companies have been known to falsify invoices and/or other supporting documents to obtain additional loans. The possibility of false documents greatly increases the lender's risk, and therefore, for an invoice to have legitimate value as collateral, the lender must be able to verify that the load was indeed delivered and accepted, i.e., that the submitted invoice is genuine.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method and system for auditing trucking invoices that relies on information and data collected by the central computing systems employed by trucking companies to manage their freight transportation operations.